By Luis Felipe Lampreia (*) - The following piece is a picture of recent events in Argentina from a historic reference and enumerates the obstacles the country faces in developing its own hydrocarbons following the seizure of YPF from Spain’s Repsol
The largest trade mission to visit Britain from the Falkland Islands for almost 20 years will arrive in Aberdeen on Tuesday to explore the opportunities arising from the Islands’ fledgling oil and gas industry, reports The Scotsman.
The banks that helped Argentina's Petersen Group buy a stake in energy company YPF will give the group extra time to make a loan payment due this month, according to sources involved in the negotiations.
The Argentine decision to seize control of 51% of YPF oil and gas giant came into effect on Monday as a decree was published on the Official Gazette. From Spain a new barrage of criticisms in support of Repsol and condemning Argentina started the week.
Soybeans are set to establish several records this year in Uruguay: exports will be above one billion dollars; for the first time the oilseed will be the leading export item of the country displacing beef and prospects for the next season are that over a million hectares will be planted.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández enacted the YPF nationalization law, which was approved by the Lower House on Thursday. During a nation-wide televised speech from Government House, the Head of State also introduced the company’s new CEO, oil engineer Miguel Galuccio.
Toning down its initial strong reactions to the nationalization of Spanish controlled YPF Spain’s Foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo said that Argentina should pay a fair price for the oil company citing a similar case in Bolivia this week.
A drilling engineer with a long experience in the oil and gas industry Miguel Galuccio, 44, will be taking over as of next Monday as manager of the nationalized YPF corporation, announced on Friday Argentine President Cristina Fernandez.
Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro backed Argentina’s controversial decision to nationalize the country's biggest oil company YPF arguing countries’ right to recover a strategic market is “indisputable”.
Brazil pledged major investment and technology transfer to Africa to repay a solidarity debt from a country with a huge black population to the poorest but resource-rich continent.